Summer Sampler Series : Greek Cross

July 13, 2011

The first block I selected to make for the Summer Sampler Series is the Greek Cross, which can be found on Page 209 Block 1646c of Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns. According to The Quilted Cross by J Michelle Watts, “The Greek cross is one of the original forms used by Christians. Before Christianity, this cross was an emblem of the Greek goddess of crossroads, Hecate.”

The Greek Cross is a traditional equal nine patch made up of half square triangles (HSTs), squares and rectangles. Nine patch blocks consist of nine squares, three across and three down. They are simple and were often used as a teaching block to children as they learned to quilt.

This block can look dramatically different depending on your color choices and where you decide to leave “white space”.

Greek Cross Quilt Block Tutorial

Please note, all seams are 1/4″; Final block size 12.5″ unfinished

Step 1. Cut your fabric:

Pattern Piece

Fabric Color

Center Cross

Cut 1

4.5” x 4.5”

Turquoise

Cut 4

2.5” x 4.5”

Turquoise

Background

Cut 4

2.5” x 4.5”

White

Cut 2

5” x 5”

White

Corners

Cut 1 Each(Total of 4*)

5” x 5”

Purple, Yellow, Orange, Pink

*If you chose to use the same fabric color/pattern for each corner piece, you will only need to cut 2 squares.

3. Cut your 2 White 5″ x 5″ squares along the diagonal. Repeat for your colored 5″ x 5″ squares. Set aside one of each of the resulting colored half square triangles (HST). You will only need 1 of each color.

5. Your resulting square should be slightly larger than 4.5″. Trim your block to 4.5″. Tip: Using a quilting ruler, place the seam down the diagonal of the ruler. Trim at the top and right of the square.

6. You now have all 9 squares needed to assemble your quilt block. Lay out your squares and sew together the top row, middle row, and bottom row. Press. Sew the rows together. Press.

I loved how this turned out today. Didn’t realize until tonight when I was posting my churn dash block from another quilt along, that this Greek cross is the same block, just different placement of the white space and color. So fun!

i really like this block, and your post about making a whole quilt with this block. i’m a pretty new quilter, and have what is probably a really stupid question… why is the block made with so many pieces, why not just do the middle row or column with a short white piece, one long turquoise piece and a one more short white piece?